Congress in UP has emphasized on recognizing the electoral value of women and in turn helping women recognize it
At a time when crime and enmity against women are being plotted on an increasing graph, the special manifesto for women released by the Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections is a milestone. This comes on top of the party’s move to field 40% women candidates in these elections, providing cautious hope.
a bold move
While cynics may dismiss it as Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose brainchild, in an electoral field she can claim to lack clear religious or caste affiliation, what this could mean for women in politics Yes, it cannot be. been underestimated. Given that the Women’s Reservation Bill is firmly entrenched, Ms Vadra’s decision to reserve 40% seats for women candidates is bold. The party has been criticized for not extending the move to other states, but making a tentative start in UP may not be a bad idea.
The direction of thought is also interesting which is evident in the manifesto. For example, 40% of the 20 lakh new jobs promised to be reserved for women, but training women as bus drivers goes beyond anganwadi and ASHA jobs, 50 run by women. Reserving ration shops, 40% reservation in MGNREGA jobs, and building Mahila Choupals in villages where women can gather and organize. The manifesto also promised to waive off the fees for compulsory crches in government offices and land registered in the name of women.
These are not new ideas but attention to detail from a woman’s point of view and it is important to see this in a political manifesto. In fact, in explaining the need for such a manifesto, Ms Vadra has spoken of the hyper-masculine and hyper-aggressive political discourse prevailing today and to counter it with femininity, with compassion, with constructive debate. is invoked. Similarly, he has spoken of replacing the language of victimization with agency – women not seeking justice but playing a political role to seize justice.
This strongly feminist term is not often heard in India’s populist political corridors, where women either receive the passing pat or are internalized to patriarchy. Looks like it’s a difference he’s recognized. Aware of the slyness in the “free gas cylinder” and “ma-beti” model of women-friendly policies, she is ready to go beyond such pigeonholing. Thus, the manifesto promise of a scooter for college girls and a smartphone for girls in Class 12 also comes with a subtle qualm that it is not just for safety or education, but because many families only allow boys. allow these features. So scooter or phone becomes equally important regarding personal freedom of women.
Similarly a special commission to fight victim-shaming, along with giving 25 per cent placement to women in police and suspension of personnel who do not register complaints within 10 days, is mentioned. One has little faith in commissions, but the acceptance of victim-shaming as a problem is quite remarkable in the anti-feminist cesspool in today’s Indian politics.
raising the bar
Launched late in the last five years and with little groundwork, the move may not turn out to be a game-changer in UP, but at least it will raise the bar. Across the world, and certainly in India, women are marginalized, despite Mayawati, Mamata and Jayalalithaa, who occasionally blaze across the skies. Everyday realities do not change, elections are not won or lost on women’s issues, extremism prevails. Even campaigns to directly uphold women’s rights do the opposite. A 2019 poster for the Beti Bachao (Save Daughters) campaign in BJP-ruled Haryana shows a girl making rotis and asking, ‘How will you eat the rotis made by her if you don’t save her life?’ On a sweet box recently seen online, ‘Save the daughter’ was followed by ‘Vansh Bachao’ (Save the Lineage). Women should be saved not because they are valuable personal entities but because they make bread or produce offspring. In fact, women are of so little importance in Indian politics that they are expected to vote on the basis of caste, community and family, and mostly do and only rarely for their own issues or beliefs.
The need for such a manifesto is immediately clear – unless women participate in and are considered political decisions, their interests will not be taken into account. In this context this document assumes significance. Irrespective of how the Congress performed in the elections, the manifesto would have played an important role – recognizing the electoral value of women and in turn helping women to recognize it. Who knows, it may one day also result in strengthening women as vote bank.
vaishna.r@thehindu.co.in
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